Dancing with the Stars eliminated Alexa PenaVega and her professional partner Mark Ballas during Monday night's broadcast of the series' 21st season on ABC.
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The Spy Kids star and Mark became the eighth couple eliminated from the competition in Week 9 based on the combination of the Dancing with the Stars judges' scores and home viewer votes they had received during last week's performance show.
"I'm so happy that I did all this. If we were going to go out, this is how I want to go out," Alexa said following her ouster after receiving an overall perfect score of 60 out of 60 points for her two dance routines.
Mark added that Alexa gained so much confidence this season and she became "a dear friend for life" whom he'll "cherish."
Alexa's husband Carlos PenaVega, a Big Time Rush singer, and his partner Witney Carson were the other couple in jeopardy of elimination prior to Alexa and Mark's elimination. However, Carlos and Witney were not necessarily one of the bottom-two couples based on the judges' scores and America's votes.
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Carlos cried about how he wished it was him going home instead of Alexa because she was clearly upset about her departure. Their interactions at the end of the episode really tugged at the heartstrings.
Monday night's DWTS episode featured each couple taking the stage for judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough and Bruno Tonioli with an individual routine and then participating in a new round which paired up two couples for one "showstopping" performance inspired by Broadway, Las Vegas and touring shows. In the new round, the two celebrities in each dance had to perform together alone for 30 seconds.
Alexa and Mark tied for first place on the judges' leaderboard last night with Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, and partner Derek Hough. Derek and Bindi also earned a perfect total score of 60 points.
Alexa and Mark danced an emotional contemporary routine that received 30 points from the judges because it represented her long struggle with Bulimia which she finally conquered. For their individual routine, Bindi and Derek took the stage with a Viennese waltz worthy of 30 points.
The couples later performed a joint routine based on the Broadway show Chicago. The glamorous, exciting performance earned both pairs an additional 30 points from the judges.
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Third place on the judging leaderboard went to Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter and partner Sharna Burgess with 55 total points. They first performed a quickstep routine that received 28 points from the judges and followed it up with their "showstopping" dance with Tamar Braxton, a singer, talk show host and sister of Toni Braxton, and partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
Nick, Sharna, Tamar and Val danced to a song from The Beatles Love which racked in 27 points from the judges.
Carlos and Witney landed in fourth place on the leaderboard with 51 total points after dancing the Argentine tango, which earned 27 points. They later added 24 points to their initial score from performing a supersized routine with train hero Alek Skarlatos and partner Lindsay Arnold. The two couples danced a routine inspired by the We Will Rock You musical.
Fifth place on the night's leaderboard belonged to Tamar and Val with a total of 49 points. Tamar was not able to dance because she was taken to the hospital after their dress rehearsal. She didn't return until the second round of competition, so the judges had to score Tamar and Val's performance based on dress rehearsal footage.
The judges called Tamar's absence "a wicked shame" because they danced a contemporary routine that probably would've come to life onstage. They received 22 points from the judges for that performance and Val was disappointed and worried about his partner. Tamar danced with Nick and Sharna later on and earned an extra 27 points.
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Alek and Lindsay finished the night in sixth -- and last -- place on the judges' leaderboard with 48 total points. In addition to the 24 points they earned for their "showstopping" dance, Alek and Lindsay also took the stage with an individual salsa routine that earned 24 points as well.
Next week, another Dancing with the Stars couple will be eliminated based on the judges' scores from last night and the home viewer votes that were cast at the end of the episode.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski